Tag Archives: ROI

When Simulation Is NOT the Answer: Own It!

Obviously, we are happy that simulation has become a popular method of education in healthcare. Simulation can provide a hands-on approach to learning that allows participants to experience real-life situations in a safe and controlled environment.

However, while simulation has many benefits, it’s not necessarily the best option for every type of education.  When we engage simulation as a modality, it is relatively complex, expensive and resource intensive compared to other educational methodologies. That all being said we all know at times it is an irreplaceable methodology that allows education, competency assessment, as well as system assessment information to be utilized in the improvement of healthcare.  The key is to have a stratification process/policy in place to evaluate opportunities to decide when simulation is the optimal deployment tool.

As leaders and managers of simulation programs we are charged with creating the return on investment for our programs. We are entrusted by the people who provide our funding to be good stewards of the investment and ongoing operational support of the simulation efforts.  It is up to us to hold the keys to the vault that we call simulation so that it gets engaged, deployed and/or utilized in the fashion that generates the expected outcomes with the highest amount of efficiency and effectiveness.

In short, don’t simulate because you can, simulate because you need to!

As your simulation center becomes a more recognized resource within your institution, there will often be an increase in request for services.  As this occurs it is critically important that leaders of programs are ensuring that the simulations are bringing value. 

For example, if someone wants you to do simulation training for an entire unit to rule out a new simple policy or procedure change, do not just say yes.  Instead, create a framework that advises the requester if simulation is the best modality.

When contemplating the value of simulation as a modality, I think it is best to go back to the creation of learning objectives for anticipated scenarios.  I always like to say that if you do knowledge, skills, and attitudes (KSA) analysis of your learning objectives and they all come up with K’s, you should reevaluate whether simulation is the best method.

Web-based education including courses, videos, lectures, or assigned reading may accomplish the same objectives as your planned simulation.  If this is the case, as a leader in simulation it is important that you recognize this and recommend modalities other than simulation.  It will likely save your organization time and money.  More importantly, it may increase the credibility of your advice and reputation moving forward as a problem solver for the institution as well as someone who is fiscally responsible.  Over time it can be valuable for a simulation program to enjoy a reputation of “the solution deployment” expert, not simply the “simulation” expert.

It is important to remember that the true value we provide is in the end-result of creating higher quality healthcare along with a safer environment for patients.  In this day and age, it has become increasingly important that our engagement is thoughtful, prudent with cost considerations in mind.  While we are all passionate about simulation, leaders of the future will garner success through a lens of efficiency and effectiveness in the programs that we deploy.

In conclusion, healthcare simulation is an important tool for education and patient safety, but it is not always the best tool. Simulation program managers and leaders should consider the specific learning outcomes they hope to achieve and carefully consider which educational modality is most appropriate for their learners. By doing so, they can ensure that they are providing the best possible, most cost-efficient training for their staff and ultimately improving patient outcomes.

Remember: Don’t simulate because you can, simulate because you need to!

Let me know what you think in the comments! If you enjoyed this post, please let me know by liking it, or subscribing to my Blog!

Until next time,

Happy Simulating!

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Filed under Curriculum, return on investment, simulation

Fire Alarm Systems and Simulation Programs in Hospitals – What is the ROI?

shutterstock_278643779How do you respond to your financial administrator or controller of the purse strings when they ask you what the return on investment is for your hospital-based simulation program? It’s quite complicated.

Return on investment in today’s vernacular implies that there is a financial spreadsheet that can show a positive bottom line after revenue (or direct cost savings) and expenses are accounted for. This is really difficult to do with simulation.

I have seen business plan after business plan of simulation centers that have promised their administration that they will become financially positive and start bringing in big bucks for the institution in some given period of time. Usually it’s part of the business plan that justifies the standing up of the simulation center. I think I can count on one hand the simulation programs that have actually achieved this status. Why is this?

The answer is because calculating discrete return on investment from the simulation alone is extraordinarily difficult to do. While there are some examples in the literature that attempt to quantify in dollar terms a return on investment, they are however few and far between. It is largely confined to some low hanging fruit with the most common example and published in the literature focusing on central line training.

Successfully integrated hospital focused simulation programs likely have found a way to quantify part of their offerings in a dollars and cents accounting scheme, but likely are providing tremendous value to their organizations that are extraordinarily difficult, if not impossible to demonstrate on spreadsheet.

What is the value the simulation center may bring to the ability of a hospital to recruit more patients because the community is aware of patient safety efforts and advanced training to improve care? What is the value of a simulation center in its ability to create exciting training opportunities that allow the staff to feel like the system is investing in them and ultimately helping with recruiting of new staff, along with retention of existing staff members?

What is the value or potential in the ability to avoid causing harm to patients such as mismanaged difficult airway because of simulation training of physicians and other providers who provide such care? What is the value of litigation avoidance for the same topic?

Also, the value proposition of the successfully implemented simulation program for patient safety extinguishes itself over time if it significantly reduces or eliminates the underlying problem. This is the so-called phenomenon of safety being a dynamic, nonevent. Going back to the more concrete example of airway if your airway management mishap rates have been essentially zero over several years, the institutional memory may become fuzzy on why you invest so much money and difficult airway training….. A conundrum to be sure.

I think of fire alarm systems in the hospital as similar situation Let’s compare the two. Fire alarm systems detect or “discover” fires, began to put the fire out, and disseminate the news. Simulation programs have the ability to “detect” or discover potential patient safety problems for the identification of latent threats, poor systems design or staffing for example. Once identified, the simulation program develops training that helps “put out” the patient safety threat. One could argue that the training itself is the dissemination of information that a patient safety “fire” exists.

Fire alarm systems and hospitals cost hundreds of thousands, possibly millions of dollars to install and run on the annual basis. But the chief financial officer never asks what’s the return on investment? Why is that?

Well, perhaps it is a non-issue because fire alarm systems have successfully been written into law, regulations of building codes and so on. Regulation is an interesting idea for simulation to be sure but probably not for a long time.

However, if you think about it beyond a regulatory requirement, the likelihood of a given fire alarm system actually saving a life is probably significantly less probable then a well-integrated simulation program that is providing patient safety programs designed around the needs of the institution it serves. Admittedly the image of hundreds of people being trapped in a burning building is probably more compelling to the finance guy then one patient at a time dying from hypoxia from a mismanaged difficult airway.

Do you really know what to do when the fire alarm system goes off in your hospital? I mean we have little rituals like close the doors etc. But what next? Do we run? If we run, do we run toward the fire? Or away from the fire?  Do we evacuate all the patients? Do we individually call the fire department? Do we find hoses and start squirting out the fire?

When we conduct simulation-based training in hospitals that are aligned with the patient safety needs of the given institution we are extinguishing or minimizing the situation that patients will undergo or suffer from unintended patient harm. The existence of simulation programs and attention to patient safety education are a critical need for the infrastructure of any hospital caring for patients.

The more we can expand upon this concept and allow our expertise in simulation to contribute to the overall mission of the institution in reducing potential harm to patients and hospital staff, the more likely we will receive continuing support and be recognized as important infrastructure to providing the highest quality and safety to our patients.

Just like the fire alarm systems.

 

 

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